This disclosure relates generally to equipment utilized and operations performed in conjunction with a subterranean well and, in an example described below, more particularly provides for verification of swelling of a swellable material in a well.
Swellable packers are used in wellbores, for example, to seal off an annular area between a tubular member (such as tubing, casing, pipe, etc.) and an outer structure (such as a wellbore or another tubular member). A swellable packer can include a swellable seal element which swells after it is placed in the wellbore. The seal element may swell in response to contact with a particular fluid (such as oil, gas, other hydrocarbons, water, etc.).
One problem with swellable packers is that it typically takes a long time for the seal element to swell, and sometimes it can take longer than other times for the seal element to swell. So, activities in the well have to cease for a long time, until personnel are sure that the seal element is fully swollen.
If there were a way to conveniently determine whether the seal element is fully swollen, the wait time could be significantly reduced (e.g., one would have to wait only so long as it takes for the seal element to swell sufficiently to effect a seal). It will, thus, be appreciated that improvements would be beneficial in the art of verifying whether a swellable material has swollen in a well. Such improvements would be useful, for example, in determining whether a seal element is sufficiently swollen.